Putting the 'Lie' in 'Library'

By

James Taranto

Updated Sept. 9, 2008 11:59 p.m. ET

Sarah Palin seems like a perfectly normal person, but partisans both in and out of the media have been busily trying to depict her as some sort of religious nut. Among other things, Palin's opponents claim that as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, she was a "book banner"--which is to say, that she sought to have books removed from the local public library. This claim has been debunked--but not before it has spread all over the Internet with the help of some in the mainstream media.

The book-banner tale seems to have originated in a widely circulated Aug. 31 email from Anne Kilkenny, who is not a "South Park" character but a Wasilla resident and harsh Palin critic:

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

On Sept. 2, Time magazine repeated the tale, attributing it to John Stein, Palin's predecessor as mayor, whom she defeated in the 1996 election:

Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

The same day, blogress Jessamyn West, a Vermont librarian, posted the Time story to her site, Librarian.net, and added that "Mary Ellen Baker resigned from her library director job in 1999."

A reader of the blog named Andrew AuCoin then posted "the list of books Palin tried to have banned"--90 of them in all. Another reader, Charlie Brown, noticed that the list actually seemed to originate at this page--where it appears under the headline "Books Banned at One Time or Another in the United States." But the phony list was already making its way around the Internet. On Sept. 6, a reader forwarded it to us, having received it from a friend, who received it from another friend, who received it from her mother, a librarian.

As it turns out, not only was the list a fake, but when the Anchorage Daily News investigated the story, it found no evidence that Palin had ever sought to remove books from the library. Baker (who was then named Emmons) did tell the local paper back in 1996 that Palin asked her, in the Daily News's words, "about possibly removing objectionable books from the library if the need arose." Emmons "flatly refused to consider any kind of censorship."

Kilkenny makes an appearance in the Daily News story, quoting Palin as asking Baker at a City Council meeting, " 'What would be your response if I asked you to remove some books from the collection?' " Baker's response was firm and negative, according to Kilkenny, who acknowledges that Palin did not cite any specific books for removal.

The chairman of the Alaska Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee tells the Daily News that there is no evidence in her files of any censorship at the Wasilla library. As for Baker's resignation, it appears to be unrelated to the putative censorship:

Four days before the exchange at the City Council, Emmons got a letter from Palin asking for her resignation. Similar letters went to police chief Irl Stambaugh, public works director Jack Felton and finance director Duane Dvorak. John Cooper, a fifth director, resigned after Palin eliminated his job overseeing the city museum.

Palin told the Daily News back then the letters were just a test of loyalty as she took on the mayor's job, which she'd won from three-term mayor John Stein in a hard-fought election. Stein had hired many of the department heads. Both Emmons [i.e., Baker] and Stambaugh had publicly supported him against Palin.

Emmons survived the loyalty test and a second one a few months later. She resigned in August 1999, two months before Palin was voted in for a second mayoral term.

Yet the myth that Sarah Palin is a "book banner" has taken hold, at least on the left. It shows up, for instance, in two Salon articles (here and here) today.

[Palin] also talked to church members about "being saved" at the Assembly of God and suggested to them that the war in Iraq is a mission from God. Palin said, "our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure that we are praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

But this quote turns out to be a dowdification. Here's what Palin actually said:

"Pray for our military. He's [Palin's son Track] going to be deployed in September to Iraq. Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do also what is right for this country--that our leaders, our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure we are praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

"I find it hard to believe that Anderson Cooper does not understand the difference between praying for something you hope is true and stating that it is true," Lindgren writes. (The article with the misleading quote actually is written by a correspondent for Cooper's show, not Cooper himself.) It's all too easy, however, to believe that journalists would be sloppy at best when reporting stories that fit their stereotypes about Palin in particular and conservative Christians in general.

On PBS's "Washington Week in Review" Friday, hostess Gwen Ifill reported encountering hostility on the floor of the Republican Convention: "There was a genuine grievance underneath all of that, this idea that she had been a victim and a victim of sexism and a victim of media bias." Jeanne Cummings of Politico disagreed:

Well, I don't have any sympathy for them. I don't think there is any grievance that matters. John McCain put this woman--and she accepted--in a position to become president of the United States in the next 60 days. We don't have enough time to mess around with this. We need to know a lot more about this woman. And it's our job to find out everything we can about her, so the voters can make an educated decision about whether they want her that close to the presidency.

Even if "this woman" has nothing to complain about, don't readers and viewers have a right to expect that journalists report what they "find out" only if it is true?

I'm With Not Stupid Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is sticking with his unconventional strategy of attacking the Republican vice presidential nominee. The Associated Press reports from Flint, Mich., where Obama spoke yesterday:

"I mean, you can't just make stuff up," Obama said of a new McCain ad that says Palin "stopped the Bridge to Nowhere." "You can't just recreate yourself. You can't just reinvent yourself. The American people aren't stupid."

Which raises some questions. First, is the Associated Press stupid? Here's an AP report published in the New York Times last Sept. 22:

Gov. Sarah Palin ordered state transportation officials to abandon the ''bridge to nowhere'' project that became a nationwide symbol of federal pork-barrel spending. The $398 million bridge would have connected Ketchikan, on one island in southeastern Alaska, to its airport on another nearby island. ''Ketchikan desires a better way to reach the airport,'' Ms. Palin, a Republican, said in a news release, ''but the $398 million bridge is not the answer.'' She directed the State Transportation Department to find the most ''fiscally responsible'' alternative for access to the airport.

Second, does Obama really think that voters will respond well to being told they "aren't stupid"?

Does he compliment Michelle by saying, "Honey, you aren't ugly"?

He'll Wreck the Economy Later "Democrat Barack Obama says he would delay rescinding President Bush's tax cuts on wealthy Americans if he becomes the next president and the economy is in a recession, suggesting such an increase would further hurt the economy," the Associated Press reports:

So he's saying he wants to wait for any recession to pass, and then he'll hurt the economy?

Hating Sarah Palin--II Cary Tennis writes an advice column for the left-liberal Web site Salon. Here's an excerpt from a letter he published yesterday, signed "Don't Be Hatin' in Chicago" (quoting verbatim):

I need help. I just finished watching one of the most horrifying V.P. speeches in my life. My husband and I were sitting here watching the RNC so we could get some insight on who this chick is that McCain selected. As the night progressed our attitudes started to change. We were both on edge and snapping at every little thing the other did. From typing too loud on the laptop to repeating a comment made in a speech. We were at each other's throats. And all because of the spewing hatred that came from Romney, Giuliani and Palin. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? And why are sane people voting for them?!

Seriously, I cannot even stomach being around someone who claims to be a Republican. Before, I just avoided conversations with people who were of that ilk. But now ... NOW ... I want to beat some ever-loving sense into their thick stupid racist greedy selfish HEADS!

Barbara from Palm Springs responds to a Bill Kristol column in the New York Times in a similar spirit (again, quoting verbatim):

Well, Walmart stores and its right-wing policies are certainly not my idea of the source of a "model" for the first/second highest positions in the United States. Although I can not say that I've NEVER shopped there, the very few times that I have been in the stores, I felt as if I'd landed on another planet. It would be easy, however, to imagine the Beauty Queen as a frequent shopper and "at home" in this very "odd" place.

I cannot believe that such a person has been placed on the GOP ticket...after suffering through the lastest GOP 8 years...it is hard to fathom that the GOP could sink any lower...but they have managed to do so with Palin. Her extreme right wing ideas and paper thin resume are downright frightening. I've worked all my life in high-tech jobs and raised two children...but she in NO WAY represents my experience or views.

I am so afraid that the un-informed Bush voters will NOT see through the deceptive "values" of this woman and McBush....if not, it will be the end of the already diminished prestige of our country. We'll be the laughing stock of the world.

Tennis recommends that his reader calm the heck down. It is admirable, though no doubt futile, advice.

Selective Memory Several readers wrote to question Barack Obama's assertion, quoted in an item yesterday, that he registered with Selective Service upon his graduation from high school in 1979. According to Pajamas Media, Obama did register with Selective Service, but in 1980, when he was 19. Draft registration had ended a few years earlier but was reinstated in 1980 and applied to all men born in 1960 and after.

Several readers also objected to a passage from Nick Cohen's article, quoted in another item. The point is one we've made numerous times before, so we'll let reader Craig Lammlin make it for us this time:

I feel compelled to comment on Mr. Cohen's comment's regarding Sarah Palin's commitment to victory in Iraq by "sending her son to fight." I resent that comment, which is consistently used by those who favor defeat of America in Iraq, that those of us who served in Iraq are (a) children and (b) sent by our parents.

I served in Iraq as an adult. I made an adult decision to join the military (in my case the Army, through ROTC) and I resent being consistently infantilized and viewed as some sort of victim because of my reasoned choice as an adult.

The service of Sarah Palin's son has no little to connection to her commitment to win Iraq; that was her son's reasoned adult choice to make. Which he has.

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